How to be a Fairy Tail Mage
by Chasing the Fairy's Tail
Summary: Lucy Heartphilia, a rich girl, has just transferred to Fairy Tale Academy, making new friends in two weeks. Natsu Dragneel, one of the original students, is more depressed than usual since he knew Lucy would be the newest addition to Fairy Tail. That's when he saved her live by letting a car hit him instead of Lucy.
1. Chapter 1: Lucy Heartphilia

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL.**

**SHIPPINGS: NaLu. Loki/e and Aries. Erza and Jellal. A few more. ^~^**

Fairy Tale had always been the school he went to—since the age of six, and exactly when he was left to his own devices. He'd never been in the limelight, even though he was the only person besides Jellal who was afraid of Erza Scarlet due to the fact that he was used to her raging; they were cousins, after all. He'd never been in the limelight, even though he'd been at Fairy Tale for twelve long years. He'd never been in the limelight, even though he pulled pranks on everybody and was best friends, and enemies, with the coolest guy at the school, though not really _cool_ in his opinion, Gray Fullbuster.

And he liked it that way.

Two weeks ago, a girl by the name of Lucy Heartphilia had joined the school. She was nice, and pretty cute, and attracted the attention of a lot of guys. Lucy was average height for a seventeen year old, with hazel eyes and a warm smile, her hair like the golden sun. She made friends with a lot of people in the two weeks she was at the school, proving she wasn't the spoiled brat that most people thought she was, due to the fact that she was the heiress of the Heartphilia fortune.

This change didn't affect him all that much; it wasn't like he had many friends, being the antisocial moth he was. He didn't listen to gossip, and he didn't really care about all those love-hate relationships those crazy fan-girls always talked about. Then again, nothing really bothered him, though he was always tempted to give Gray Fullbuster or Gajeel Redfox, a student from Phantom, a rivaling school, a piece of his mind with a fist thrown at their face. Gajeel was part of the Phantom Lord World, nicknamed 'Black Steel Gajeel'.

He leaned against the outer building of the Fairy Tale building, staring into the sky, and wondering if Lucy was the newest addition to Fairy Tail. No, not his school, but in fact, the secret hidden within the walls of the school, the world of Fairy Tail. He didn't lie to himself; he knew that he didn't want Lucy Heartphilia to be the newest member. He didn't have any reason for it; all he knew was that the actual friends, rather, family, he made in the world of Fairy Tail would be occupied by Lucy Heartphilia, and he'd be left alone in that pool of misery he was attempting to be free from. So, basically, that earlier thought about being indifferent to this change was a lie.

Onyx eyes looked to the ground below his feet. He probably should get going; after all, he didn't want to spend the night in the city, as it was too noisy for his sensitive hearing. However, he had to go through the noisy group of houses before entering the peace and solitude of the forest beyond it. Letting out a sigh, he headed into the city.

He was greeted by a piece of iron thrown at his head. Neatly, he dodged it as if he had no problem doing so. Gajeel sat in a chair, chewing on a piece of aluminum foil. "Yo, pyromaniac," Gajeel goaded, and metal glinted in the harsh artificial light.

He wasn't in a mood for fighting, so he replied, "Shut up, piercings freak." Yes, that name suited Gajeel quite well. Piercings were dotted around his whole body; his eyebrows, ears, arms—everywhere. Gajeel noticed he wasn't getting the reaction he wanted, so he simply shrugged and sat back. "Not in the mood today, eh, Salamander," he said, that bushy mane of hair shifting with him.

"Black Steel, I don't want to talk to you right now." Salamander's eyes glittered with annoyance. "I don't need to talk to you." With that line, he headed deeper into the city, feeling the walls around him close in on him. Despite himself, he was claustrophobic, adding another reason for him to hate cities. His sensitive ears picked up high pitched laughing, and he shrugged; usually it was those crazy drunk retards who simply drank all day and all night, swapping gossip. When it came to talking, they made a pair of women look mute.

Onyx eyes sifted through the crowd, and surprise lit them up for a moment. Lucy Heartphilia was heading outside to go shopping or something, and just as she stepped out, a bluette, Levy McGarden, followed her, saying something that he couldn't catch. He recognized the two of them; Lucy was the popular girl, after all, and Levy was part of the Fairy Tail world. It appeared that the two of them were best friends. Shrugging, he went on his way.

Suddenly, a dark haired eighteen year old with cobalt eyes waved at Lucy, and she arched an eyebrow, obviously saying, "Where are your clothes?" He recognized him as Gray Fullbuster. Seemingly, Gray had decided to go with Lucy and Levy, along with Loki, another Fairy Tail World person. He shrugged, and headed off before noticing that the four of them had already begun moving out, laughing and chatting on trivial matters.

Oddly enough, Gray and Loki hadn't noticed his presence in the area, which both hurt and pleased him. He either improved at hiding his presence or Gray and Loki didn't give a shit about him. Sighing, he continued trudging down the street.

That's when they stopped heading down the same street. Gray, Lucy, Loki, and Levy began to cross the street one by one, and what happened next went by so fast, he couldn't control himself. A huge car, obviously driven by a drunk, went down the street at a crazy speed, hurtling towards Lucy. He had no regrets; as soon as the car was seen, he took action and crashed into the Lucy, throwing her onto the sidewalk; that couldn't have felt good, but it was probably better than being crushed by a crazy driver and his car.

"What was that—" Lucy demanded in a loud voice but faltered when she realized that the guy who saved her life was still on the street, attempting to get out of the way, but a wry smile touched his mouth, like he already knew what was coming for him, and he'd already decided on doing so.

"Natsu!" Gray, Loki, and Levy shouted all at once, but before they could reach him, the car came by, and sped off, completely ignoring the fact that he or she would have just run over the heiress of the Heartphilia fortune, had Natsu not intervened.

Complete chaos descended as soon as the people around them noticed what happened. Unfortunately, that meant that they all headed down towards where the car had gone, shouting and screaming bloody murder. Only a few stayed, keeping their distance. The four of them rushed to Natsu's side, where the prone form lay.

"Hey, wake up," Loki said softly as Gray pulled out his cell phone and dialed Natsu's cousin, Erza Scarlet's, phone number and waited for her to pick up.

Lucy stared at Natsu, and the first thing she noticed was his messy and _pink_, _pink_ of all colors, hair. That was completely irrelevant. His life was in danger, and she notices what color hair he has first? What kind of person was she? A complete idiot! If he had died, Lucy wouldn't be able to forgive herself; it was her fault he was about to die.

"**Curse you, Gray! What kind of time is it to call—"** a voice on the other side of the line shouted, and Lucy instantly recognized her as Erza Scarlet. And she knew that the redhead was in a bad mood; maybe she was having her strawberry cake when Gray called.

"I don't care if it's a bad time to call, Natsu just got hit by a car! If you don't get down to Aspen Street in ten minutes, it'll be too late. Hurry up!" Gray interrupted, which was a dangerous thing to do to Erza. However, Erza's voice didn't respond; she simply hung up. Gray put his phone away. "We'd better move him or else we're sitting ducks."

Erza was there in three minutes. "We're going to have to enter Fairy Tail," she said grimly. "It might be able to help a bit. That means that Lucy can't go." Gray nodded, and took out a pair of ice blue keys, shaking them.

"I've got my keys. Does Natsu have his on him?" Levy asked, bringing out a pair of amber keys, while Loki had a pair of orange to match his hair. Gray checked his pockets and found the fire red keys; they had a flame shape on the back of it. "He does."

"Sorry Lucy, we're going to have to go. It's an emergency, and only certain people can enter," Loki apologized and tossed his keys onto the pavement, as did Erza, Gray, and Levy. Natsu's was dropped onto the pile.

Erza chanted a few words, and was mirrored by every person with their keys; she went twice for Natsu. "See you later, Lucy," Levy called, and the four of them disappeared into the light. Lucy stared at the spot where they had just been. What the hell just happened?

"Damn you, Natsu," Gray grunted under his breath. "You're heavy." He _had_ to be the one to carry him; Erza's glare forced him to do it. After all, she was the scariest person in both Fairy Tail and Fairy Tale. Loki gave him a sympathetic glance before adjusting his glasses and walking out in front.

Erza had run back to the Fairy Tail Guildhall to alert the Master and Porlyusica. When they arrived in the infirmary, Porlyusica was able to begin immediately while Gray went off to go shower; seriously, Natsu's blood had gotten all over him, and he didn't exactly like that.

However, he was worried about the pinkette; they were best friends, so why wouldn't he be worried? Gray knew he was a guy who just _wouldn't_ lie down and die, or the kind of guy to admit defeat. And despite not knowing Lucy, he took a blow for her, and a serious one at that.

Gray still had some conflicting thoughts about Natsu's actions though. He'd known Natsu long enough to know when he what he was feeling, even if he was clammed up tight in his own shell. And he could guess what he was feeling now was jealousy. Jealousy towards Lucy Heartphilia. But why had he protected her if he was jealous? Was it that he was simply not thinking, or was it because he really didn't like it if someone died on his watch? The next thought was so unlike Natsu, but yet so fitting to the situation, it gave Gray a shiver down his back. Was he just trying to die?

He remembered that look of defeat and relief in those onyx eyes; he remembered how a resigned smile played on his lips; he remembered how he barely tried to get out of the way. Gray wondered what the hell was wrong with Natsu; he had never shown anything like that before. He was usually happy-go-lucky, crazy, and full of energy around his friends, but what happened earlier that day reflected none of that, as if Natsu had accidentally shown another side to his friends.

"Gray, where the hell did your clothes go?" Cana, a heavy drinker, yelled from across the room. Gray sighed; he had an odd habit of losing his clothes without realizing anything. "I'll go get some," Gray shouted back, and headed over to the shelf where there were some spare clothes. He put some on. "Better?"

After a while of waiting, Porlyusica emerged from the infirmary with Master Makarov. Erza was the first to speak up. "How's he?" she demanded, lavender eyes sparking with impatience and worry. She stood up as soon as Porlyusica appeared.

"It'll be a while before he'll be able to go back to school," Porlyusica answered, which Gray noticed was not really an answer. That alone was enough to frighten him. "And the odds of dying are excellent."

Despite being a cold old woman who hated humans, Porlyusica was fairly kind, yet blunt and honest with her words at times. Apparently, she didn't care about others' feelings, yet she didn't allow any unkindness to happen under her watch. Erza sat back down with a sigh; it was obvious she was worried about Pyromaniac.

Master Makarov cleared his throat and jumped onto a high chair. "I know you're all worried for Natsu's wellbeing, but I suggest you go back home and not fret yourselves too much; you all have school tomorrow." With his words, the guild members reluctantly used their keys to leave Fairy Tail, and one by one the people left. Gray and Erza were the last two left, excluding Porlyusica and Makarov.

"Are we allowed to see him?" Gray asked, crossing his arms. Porlyusica sighed, heading into the infirmary, beckoning them in with a hand. The infirmary was dark, and smelled of herbs and bandages. Gray could hear ragged and uneven breathing from the other side of the room, and he winced quietly in sympathy. Porlyusica led them to the bed farthest from the door, the one closest to the window.

At some point, Porlyusica turned on the light. Natsu looked terrible, his eyes closed and his chest heaving as he attempted to breathe regularly. His skin was milky pale, his movements restricted due to the risk of opening his wounds again.

"He'll be fine if he doesn't get out of bed," Porlyusica said after a moment of silence. "Also, I might want to show you two something." She gently tugged away the blanket and lifted up one of his arms and unwrapped the bandages, revealing long, deep and neat cuts along his arm, and they looked recent. "No one can get these wounds from an accident. These look as if someone had done it to him, because if he'd gotten into one of those accidents, these wounds would be much messier; these look like straight and perfect lines."

Gray studied the wounds, cobalt eyes flickering to Natsu's unconscious face and recalled his earlier thoughts about how Natsu may have been trying to kill himself. Porlyusica then spread out his fingers, revealing cuts on them, though they weren't quite as deep or neat as the ones on his arms. "These make it look like he was the one who cut himself," Porlyusica said, and held up a shard of steel. "And I found this in one of his pockets." When Gray studied it, he realized it was sharp on both sides, and there was blood on it; dried, but blood none the less.

"Are you suggesting that my cousin cuts?" Erza demanded, speaking up for the first time. Her lavender eyes flashed defiantly as if she wouldn't believe that such a happy-go-lucky guy like Natsu would do something like that. Porlyusica narrowed her red eyes, and nodded. "Yes. I have been studying these wounds for a bit. The earliest of these is five years old; he's been cutting since he was thirteen."

"You mean, when he began live with Uncle Ivan?" Erza asked, arching an eyebrow. Porlyusica nodded again, and then rewrapped the bandages around Natsu's arm. "And there are a few disturbing wounds here and there." Her red eyes gleamed. "Now get out. I don't like humans."

**Yo, so that's the first chapter. Leave a review, please ^~^**

**Hope you enjoyed, I sure enjoyed writing this. I'm sorry if a few of the characters are OOC; Natsu is OOC because I DID THAT ON PURPOSE XD**

**Have a nice day.**


	2. Chapter 2: Death Wish

A few days later, Erza, Gray, and Levy met with Lucy on the way to school. The past few days, Lucy had been busy with her family affairs.

As soon as she saw them, she raced to them, and asked Gray, "How's Natsu?" Gray, Erza, and Levy exchanged a conflicted glance. Swallowing, Gray answered Lucy's question. "According to Porlyusica, he barely survived that hit, and he's still in critical condition; the odds of dying for him are excellent. However, if he doesn't move around too much, he'll probably recover, except he'd probably be limping for the rest of his life if he lives."

"All of this news is fairly good, because the Natsu we know is real tough, and if he doesn't move around, he'll most likely live. However, there's one really bad thing for us; Natsu cannot stop moving around," Erza added. Lucy's shoulders slumped, and her hazel eyes were unusually unhappy.

"It's all my fault. If I'd been paying more attention, then neither of us would've been hurt," she moaned while Levy attempted to reassure her that it wasn't her fault. "Natsu's just like that," Levy told Lucy. "If anyone was about to get hurt, even if he hated that person, he'd jump in and take the hit for that person. If you blame yourself, nothing good will come out of it." Lucy sighed. "I guess you're right."

Gray nodded. "Exactly. Besides, the Natsu I know has never been down for long; that guy just will not die, and he will not give up." He smiled at Lucy warmly, but there wasn't anything romantic in the gesture. "Let's hurry, or else the teachers will kill us. We don't want to be late."

After school, Gray, Erza, Lucy, Loki, and Levy were walking down the street to head back home to do their homework when Gray saw something ahead, and a stream of profanity spewed out of his mouth as he ran down the street ahead of them. "Fuck you, Natsu!" he shouted; he had caught sight of a flash of pink hair, and he cursed the pyromaniac.

Erza and Lucy ran after Gray while Loki and Levy blinked, startled at Gray's sudden outburst. After a second, they realized the situation and sprinted after them. "What's the big idea, flame-brain?" Gray yelled at Natsu, who was sitting on the ground, half-conscious. "Porlyusica told you not to move at all!" A smile touched Natsu's lips, but he didn't reply.

_Flame-brain? Where the hell did that nickname come from?_ Lucy wondered, but her thoughts were interrupted when she noted his condition, and her next thought was: _What the fuck is wrong with him? He shouldn't even be able to move in that condition! Does he have a death wish?_

Loki waved a hand in front of Natsu's face, attempting to get his attention. "Yo, Natsu. Wake up. We're gonna have to use your keys to go back to Fairy Tail." Natsu didn't have a reaction; his eyes had a glazed appearance, and his head lolled against the wall behind him. "Hello? Earth to Natsu Dragneel?"

Lucy realized she never knew what Natsu's last name was, and felt even more ashamed that he had saved her life and she never even bothered to learn his full name. Levy sighed, and shook him as gently as possible. "Wake up, Natsu," she said. "We need your keys."

After a few more moments of attempting to wake him up, he finally regained consciousness. "…Keys… I left them… at home…" Natsu said hazily. "…guess the old man wasn't in the best mood."

"Retard!" Erza shouted at Natsu, tempted to slap him on the face, and hard, when she noticed that he seemed worse off than when she last saw him. Guessing it was from moving around, she ignored the extra wounds. "I'll be going to your place and getting your keys then." Natsu attempted to stop her, getting to his feet shakily and grabbing her wrist. "Don't," he croaked, black eyes pleading. "I'll go get them myself."

Gray rolled his eyes. "Like hell you can do that while you're in this condition," he told Natsu. "Just wait here while Erza goes and gets your keys." Natsu immediately took off as fast as he could, leaving the others behind, leaning on walls for support frequently. Loki exchanged a look with Levy. "Does he have a death wish?" Levy asked.

"We'd better go after him," Lucy said, and Loki nodded in agreement, though Gray wasn't sure whether it was because he was constantly flirting with Lucy, or if he really agreed with her. Probably both.

"Yeah. He might kill himself on the way," Loki said. "I mean, we don't want that to happen to Natsu, right?" Erza had already begun to walk off, her armor plates clinking against each other. That left the others no choice; they followed Erza, catching up with her as best as they could.

Once they arrived at Natsu's home, or rather, Uncle Ivan's, they were frankly quite shocked. It was a rundown place, and Gray could hear a deep voice shouting inside, along with quite a few crashes and bangs. Then it was quiet. After a moment, he could hear a quieter voice say something, and the deep voice started yelling again, and more crashes and bangs could be heard.

Gray couldn't tell who was talking, and what was being conversed about. After a moment, he didn't see Natsu come out; taking the keys, wherever they were, wouldn't take anyone this long, even Natsu in this condition. "Let's go check." Loki voiced his exact thoughts.

Erza straight up knocked on the door, calling, "Uncle Ivan, I saw Natsu enter. We wanted to talk to him." That was a straight out lie, and it was coming from Erza; they hadn't seen Natsu go in, and they didn't want to talk to him, they wanted to bring him back to Fairy Tail for proper treatment. Weird. However, they all knew better than to question her; if you had a death wish, go ahead and mess with Erza's strawberry cake or ignore her.

Her uncle Ivan opened the door, looking worried. "He just fell down the stairs while getting his keys or something," he told her gruffly. "You'd better go get him." Erza immediately ran inside, followed by the others who'd come with her.

Lucy realized Natsu was still conscious when they reached him at the base of the stairs when she heard a faint groan come out of his mouth. There was blood on his left arm, the one that wasn't bandaged, but with that arm, he held a key. Erza helped him up, letting him lean on her. "Careful, you retard," she told him gently, supporting most of his weight.

Gray took his other side, helping Erza hold him up, noticing Natsu was barely walking, nearly completely relying on him and Erza to help him, and he realized just how much he trusted them for the time being. That also meant he needed a lot of help just for him to admit that. Erza pried the keys out of his fingers as gently as she could, and they all headed out. "See you!" Erza called as she waved, which was returned by Ivan, and the door closed shut.

Once they were out of sight and deep into the forest, Erza leaned Natsu against a tree and tossed hers and Natsu's keys onto the ground, and the action was repeated by Levy, Loki, and Gray. Lucy simply sat next to Natsu, watching him.

"Lucy…" Natsu croaked quietly, just so she could hear him. He managed to turn his face towards hers, and a pair of solid obsidian eyes met hazel. "Do you… believe in magic…?" he murmured.

"Magic…?" Lucy repeated, unsure of whether Natsu really asked that question. "I don't know," she answered after a moment of silence. And that's when Natsu did something he really shouldn't have done; he lifted up his left arm, blood still trickling down its length. "Magic… it's real," he told her, and to prove his point, a beautiful ruby-red flame sparked in the palm of his hand, illuminating his face in its red glow. However, it went out, just as Natsu did.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried, and held his shoulders, but gave a sigh of relief when she realized he was just sleeping. She shuddered, and took a deep breath. Was what Natsu showed her real? Did he really summon a flame from nowhere, and it appeared in his palm? How come it didn't burn his hand? Lucy held up his left arm, noticing no visible burn marks on his palm, but the blood from the wounds hadn't stopped yet.

That's when he started glowing, and Lucy let go, watching as her schoolmates disappeared in the same flash of light they had done a few days ago. She was left alone in the forest, with nothing but a few drops of scarlet blood on the ground.


End file.
